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Psychophysical Tracking Method to Measure Taste Preferences in Children and Adults
Published on: July 16, 2016
Differential longitudinal effects of frequent sweetened food consumption at different exposure ages on child
Zhao-Ting Tsai1, Chia-Ling Chen2, Hawjeng Chiou3
1Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
Insights
Frequent sugar-sweetened food (SF) consumption negatively impacts child development. Early SF exposure harms cognitive function, while later exposure affects cognitive, language, and motor skills, decelerating development.
Area of Science:
- Developmental psychology
- Pediatric nutrition
- Cognitive science
Background:
- Animal models suggest high sugar intake impairs cognition.
- Potential for similar negative effects on child development necessitates investigation.
- Sweetened foods (SFs) are a common dietary component for children.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the impact of sweetened foods (SFs) on child developmental trajectories.
- To identify critical periods of SF exposure influencing development.
- To assess effects across cognitive, language, and motor domains.
Main Methods:
- Prospective cohort study of 4782 children in Taiwan, recruited at 3 months old.
- Developmental assessments (cognitive, language, motor) at 3, 12, 24, and 36 months.
- Latent growth models used to analyze SF consumption effects on developmental trajectories.
Main Results:
- Cognitive development: SF consumption at 1 year affected the intercept; at 2 years, it affected the intercept and quadratic term.
- Language development: SF consumption at 2 years negatively impacted the intercept.
- Motor development: SF consumption at 2 years influenced the linear slope and quadratic term, indicating altered developmental velocity.
Conclusions:
- Timing of SF exposure is critical, with different developmental domains affected at different ages.
- Early SF exposure (by 1 year) negatively impacts cognitive development.
- Later SF exposure (by 2 years) detrimentally affects cognitive and language abilities and decelerates cognitive and motor development velocity.
Background:
Evidence reveals frequent sugar consumption worsens cognition in animal models, and similar effects on child development are probable. We aimed to investigate the influence of sweetened foods (SFs) on child developmental trajectories.
Methods:
The prospective cohort recruited 3-month-old children in Taiwan from 1st April 2016 to 30th June 2017. Developmental inventories including cognitive, language, and motor domains, were measured at the age of 3-,12-, 24-, and 36 months old via in-person interviews. We constructed latent growth models with covariates to estimate the influence of SFs on child development.
Results:
Ultimately, 4782 children (50.7% boys) were included in the statistical analysis. In the cognitive domain, consumption at one year of age significantly affected the intercept, but not the linear slope and quadratic term (intercept: estimate = -0.054, p < .001); consumption at two years of age significantly affected the intercept and quadratic term (intercept: estimate = -0.08, p < .001; quadratic term: estimate = -0.093, p = .026), but not the linear slope. In the language domain, only consumption at two years of age significantly affected the intercept (estimate = -0.054, p < .001). In the motor domain, consumption at two years of age significantly affected the linear slope and quadratic term (estimate = 0.080, p = .011 and estimate = -0.082, p = .048, respectively).
Conclusion:
We found SFs exposure at different times has different negative effects on child development. Early exposure to SFs harmed children's cognitive function. Relatively late exposure to SFs not only deteriorated children's cognitive and language abilities but also decelerated developmental velocity in cognitive and motor domains.
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